The headline misrepresents what he actually said.

Utter Nonsense.
"The skulls of Bishops Pave the road to Hell."

Just wait for it. A ´respected´ British ´psychological´ journal a year or so back - fielded very much the same proposition, with the codicil that they weren´t altogether convinced there was actually anything ´wrong´ with ´loving children´.

As we enter the ´new millennium´, where ´society´ demands we ´respect alternative sexual lifestyles´ - and insists - beyond *any* supporting evidence whatsoever that ´sexual orientation is ´inherent´ rather than ´choice´ - it´s gonna´ be pretty damn hard to stuff this ´tolerance and diversity´ crap back in the bag...

What the heck...when I show up at the local marriage license bureau with 6 Asian K-pop singer chicks - and they refuse to issue us a license for 7-spouse-polygamy...

Then we can find out how ´tolerant´ the mentally challenged liberals of the world actually are, eh?

OK, I´ll agree that it is an illness. Chronic and only treatable by lethal injection.

I agree it´s an illness, but it results in criminal activity, and so must be punished as such. And, just because someone has a mental illness doesn´t mean you can excuse the aberrant behavior that results from it. You can´t allow pedophile employees in the public school system (of which there are far too many) or pedophile priests continue o serve in any capacity since no one has yet found a way to disrupt their criminal urges.

From sin against God that is rightfully considered to be a crime that is punishable by law; morphing into mental illness that is to be understood by society and treated by psychologists, to the eventual appeal for tolerance by the gradual removing of moral boundaries, and the inevitable demands of complete acceptance. That is how a civilization is destroyed. Moral decay will bring poverty of the soul and of the purse. History tells this story but few believe it while it is happening.

Pedophilia is an illness. Acting on the symptom (the urge to victimize children) is a crime. We don’t (or shouldn’t) excuse murder because the perpetrator is a sociopath. We shouldn’t excuse the abuse of children because the perpetrator is a pedophile.

The headline is misleading but this is a LIBERAL newspaper, hence taken with a grain of salt. For some reason OP posts quite a few anti-Catholic articles, wonder why that is?

What can you expect from someone from South Africa, a country whose government let stand the idea that having sex with a virgin would cure HIV? It is a country whose government and people stood by silently and inactively for years while its 3 year olds were raped because they surely were virgins.

Everybody has an inborn inclination to do one sort of evil or another; that´s called "concupiscence," as this Cardinal Napier should know, and it is an innate feature of our fallen human nature.

We are all born with these characer flaws, and it is our responsibility --- with the grace of God --- to overcome them.

If one accepted an exclusively "therapeutic" line on sin and crime as mental illness, one would have to say nobody is responsible for anything, because we are neither responsible for our genetic inheritance nor our early childhood development and environment.

If that´s what Napier meant, then he is rejecting what the Catholic Church teaches about human freedom and responsibility.

IF that´s what he meant.

A desire to seek sexual gratification from children may well be a mental aberration. deliberately toying with the thought -- fantasizing intentionally --- is a sin. And acting on it is a crime.

By that sort of thinking, neither is rape; or bank robbery, for that matter...

In the US of A molesting little kids is a crime.

I am so sick of the mental illness excuse.

Unless you are totally schizophrenic, that is to put it loosely, a stark raving lunatic who has no idea who he is or what he is doing, "mental illness" is not an excuse for anything.

This is why people distrust the catholic church. This is what gives atheists ammunition against those who truly are spiritual and believe in God.

And number 1, there is no misrepresentation here.

He said:

´From my experience paedophilia is actually an illness, it is not a criminal condition, it is an illness.´


The cardinal spoke of two priests he knew who were abused as children and went on to become paedophiles.
He told the BBC: ´Don´t tell me that those people are criminally responsible like somebody who chooses to do something like that.

Perhaps you want to play some game of semantics. Not me. He said that pedophiles can be fixed and are not criminals.

Dare I say it? To hell with you Pope. You´re just like all the rest of them, sheltering and "helping" these monsters that go after children and then are shielded by the church. You spread absolutely corrupted thinking amongst others who misguidedly look up to you.

My dad was right when he said Catholics are weird. There´s your freaking proof.

Disgusting.

#1 got it right. still, adults are responsible for their conduct

Reply 7 Starfire is right on the money.

The American Psychological Association has taken paedophilia of their list of disorders just as they did 30 years ago for homosexuality. You can expect pedophilia to be the basis of human rights in 30 more years as homosexuality is today. The APA now says it is unethical for their members to agree to treat homosexuality even at the request of the person involved. If paedophilia is off their list why would it be ethical to treat it if as the cardinal says it is a disease. I think John Paul II called it a serious crime which is rightly the subject of criminal laws. I would say that like many obsessive compulsive addictive behavior patterns it is a form of slavery. It is easy to sink into this slavery but difficult to get out of it and the individual is responsible for the overall vice for sure and perhaps more than for individual incidents just like a drunk is responsible for becoming a drunk but less so for each drink he takes.

All pedophiles must die.

Don´t these clerics ever read the Bible? The Gospels from which many homilies are taught? Evangelists Matthew (8:16), Mark(9:42) and Luke(17:2) all thought it was important to record what Jesus said should to be done to anyone who "offends" a little one. Hang a millstone around the neck of the offender and toss the offender and stone into the sea. The Lord did not speak in nuanced terms on this subject. It was pretty straightforward.

The article is poorly worded, but the cardinal has a point. Pedophilia is a mental illness. Something going haywire in the brain causes some men to get turned on by children, and to-date, neither medications or therapies have been successful in changing this tendency.

Is it wrong? Absolutely! But is the cause that different from the psychotic person who hears voices telling him to shoot up a theater? Not really.

So then comes the question - what is a crime? If we say yes, it is a crime and we must ´punish´ for it - that isn´t punishment in the typical sense of the word. That is, the person isn´t going to sit in his jail cell and think, "Oh, my, I´m a bad person and I shouldn´t ever be interested in little boys (or girls) again!" That isn´t the way his brain is wired. If we say that it is clearly wrong, but there is no benefit in ´punishing´ to turn around his thinking - then how do we protect society from this perpetrator?

No, it´s inborn. Not a choice. And, who knows, there´s probably a gene somewhere that is responsible.

So, we must allow it. We must lower the age of sexual consent to 10 years old. After all, if its a civil right for homosexuals then why can´t it be a civil right for pedophiles? Those who are against sex with children are just old fuddy- duddies from the past Victorian age. They are trapped in the past. Remember when they didn´t think whites should marry blacks? So we should allow pedophiles to marry children. And maybe marry a child and an adult too; and maybe one of each sex. Throw in the house dog to boot. Love is what counts. Why shouldn´t we all be able to marry who we love?

Paedophilia is an illness ?

What germ is the cause? Can we vaccinate against it?

I suspect the Pope is laying the groundwork necessary to excuse his or others past discretions. Trying to mitigate the ongoing reprehensible reputation and finances of the church from all the child abuse lawsuits.

I find it disgusting that, once outed, God´s representative, the Priest, the child abuser, wasn´t ex-communicated - he was simply transferred.

Children are the innocent of society. They should remain innocent as long as possible. Paedophils should be locked away - until a cure for the illness is discovered.

#13 - I´m reminded of the words of a song from South Pacific:

You´ve got to be taught before it´s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You´ve got to be carefully taught!

The crimes these animals commit are Not due to pedophelia. For the most part, the priests prey on adolescents. They are not sick. They are homosexual predators looking for easy pickings. As such, they are criminals pure and simple.

I don´t argue that many crimes may be the result of some kind of mental illness, but they are crimes nonetheless, and the only thing to do with child molesters/abusers is, unfortunately, lock them away for the rest of their lives. There is too much recidivism to make it likely that more than a couple could be "cured." The more that are gone for good, the fewer children may be abused, and the vicious cycle may be broken.

Cardinals should stick to the subject of sin and leave the concept of crime to courts, lawyers and legislatures.

If everything is manifested by illness, then nothing is criminal. Therefore, there are no crime or criminals. Only infections and the infected.

Now that that is settled, let´s turn everyone out and live the primitive life of the past.

The Pope didn´t say it!

They´re not mutually exclusive.

Folks, pedophilia is just the sexual preference that someone is BORN with, just like homosexuality. If you are BORN with it then... then... it must be OK because nobody can be rightfully held responsible for the way they are BORN... right?

And, in a couple of decades, we will learn that murderers are also BORN that way. who has a right to take the life of someone who was only guilty of having been born with a genetic path that HAD to lead to murder?

You say "That´s a stupid post".

I say 40 years ago nobody dreamed that being a drunk, a gambler or a homosexual would be pinned on genetics.

BTW, if being gay is genetic... just how did this trait ever get passed down and why are there seemingly more today than in the past?

I stand corrected, Cardinal not Pope. But nevertheless, it shows the same excuses for this thing all the way to the top.

#22. I don´t hate anyone, well, aside from pedophiles. My dad had some experiences with the church that is best not brought up here.

But I stand by my words. People that make excuses for pedophiles are weird, and so is the "flock" that goes along with these "leaders". Such behavior besmirches all of Christianity, and gives ammunition to anti-Christians. It debases us all.

If that offends you, too bad.

An illness that can be fatal, if you mess with my kid.

Catholic bashers look for any excuse to demonize the Catholic Church. There is nothing new about that. A Cardinal was quoted or misquoted or taken of context perhaps, but that goes right to the top - just as if the Pope himself said it. And the source is that supreme example of journalistic integrity, The Daily Mail. Y´all can pretend all you like that you don´t hate, but you do.

I believe what Jesus actually said was more along the lines of It is better to be tossed into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck, than to face the wrath of the Almighty for the crime of offending one of His little ones. After what the Lord did to Sodom and Gomorrah, I hate to think what He will do to molesters of His little ones.

Having seen an actual millstone up close and personal just recently, one of those babies would propel you pretty quick to the bottom of the deepest sea. They weigh in at about 800 lbs.

Sigh. Tell the victims it´s not a crime, Cardinal Napier.

The tendency to medicalize aberrant, criminal, and just plain dastardly behavior is yet another sign of spiritual sickness in modern societies. If individuals wearing clerical robes participate--this headline appears to overstate what the cardinal said--then we´re that much closer to the abyss. In my humble opinion there is no punishment save death meet for a child molestor.

If pedophilia is an illness, it is a very serious one. Subject it to forcible quarantine until absolute evicence of recovery.

#8 Because they are in the news; I like the posts from the OP--nothing wrong with them.

#36 that is the answer.

Re #36 and #38: Even if pedophilia can fairly be called an illness, it´s likely to be an incurable one. Some close friends of mine who are police with decades of experience have told me that for convicted pedophiles the recidivism rate hovers around 100%. Once these people begin preying on children, the behavior permanently twists their brains, and there is no effective cure. One way or another (incarceration or death) they have to be kept in a place where there are no children. Trusting psychology to cure them is an unacceptable risk.

One notorious example would be Penn State´s convicted child rapist Jerry Sandusky. Before his sentencing but after his crimes had been reported widely and he was ordered to have no contact with children, he was sitting inside his house with binoculars, watching children play.

"Paedophilia is an illness NOT a crime"

Only when you are standing alone. Once you act out your insanity on a child, it´s a crime. Ask the boys they raped.

Hey Cardinal, have you never heard of the criminally insane? It may be a mental illness, but they still know right from wrong. They know it is wrong and therefore they are willfully breaking the law. Same goes for other mental illnesses that hurt other people. Rapists know what they do is wrong but they still give in to their impulses. Serial killers...the same. Just because someone has mental illness or deficiency does not excuse them from abiding by the rules and laws of society. And if that person hurts another, they must be removed from society.

Let´s not show our ignorance by trying to equate pedophilia with homosexuality. There is absolutely NO relation between the two nor common ground other than your negative prejudice against homosexuals. Let´s not go there today.

Really? SO how many boys did YOU molest?

All sin is an illness. Jesus said when he was criticized for eating with sinners," I came to heal the sick not those who need not a physician"
We all have the "sin gene" and so the homosexuals may be half right in claiming a ´gay´ gene, but does this mean that child molesters have a "paedophilia gene"??? It means that we should not feel so superior as none of us are ´sin free´ but>>>some are to be put away from among us. Liars, theives, assaulters sexual and likewise those who spread disease like lepers?

Was looking for articles on Pope Francis.

Agree that this article was Catholic bashing, which does not excuse the Cardinal´s stupidity. Look to the ridicule over his comments on AIDS. However, he is right, because over the course of a year, condoms have a 1 in 6 user failure rate. The same odds as Russian Roulette. He was also on to something if the standard of morality was what a defense lawyer can use to beat a charge. But if he used the advice he recommended for AIDS, it follows that anyone who enabled a pedophile the opportunity is guilty, because NO should have been the only answer.